Sacrificial girls: a case study of the impact of streaming and setting on gender reform

This article reports on research funded by the Australian Research Council to investigate school responses to gender equity. It addresses the efforts of a disadvantaged school to tackle what they perceived to be gender inequalities, but in the process of constructing a top‐set and bottom‐set/stream class they are developing new forms of old inequalities and new forms of inequalities. This research indicates that despite popular assertions that girls' education has become the priority of schools and education systems, girls are being further disadvantaged through attempts to implement market strategies coupled with gender reform agendas grounded in liberal notions of equity and relying on unsophisticated notions of affirmative action. In addition, this study highlights the extent to which a media‐driven debate about boys' education has influenced the constitution of boys as the ‘new disadvantaged’ with the capacity to determine the nature of gender reform agendas and programmes in schools.     

The educational television facilities act of 1962

Summary and conclusions Suffering intensely from lack of funds for construction of trans mission facilities and under heavy criticism from commercial broadcasters, industry, some federal agencies, and other opponents of ETV expansion for their slow activation of educationally reserved channels, proponents of the ETV movement turned to Congress for help. In 1956, the idea of federal aid to ETV took specific shape with Leonard H. Marks, a Washington communications attorney, Senator Warren Magnuson, and those within the ranks of various educational institutions. Although under constant pressure from the U. S. Office of Education, the NAEB, the NEA, and other educational organizations and citizens who contributed long hours of testimony to show the need for federal assistance to ETV, Congress—especially the House of Representativeswas not altogether willing to enact legislation which would give the federal government even the slightest excuse for becoming involved in what was considered by many to be a state problem. Nevertheless, after considerable testimony and debate, including the addition of a strong “no Federal control” clause, Congress approved a modified version of Magnuson’s original bill; and what has proved to be the most significant development in educational television since the Sixth Report and Order of 1952, Public Law 87–447 provided $32 million for the construction of ETV facilities. Through the efforts of men like Marks, Magnuson, Roberts, and others of the Congress; of organizations such as the NAEB, the NEA, and the U. S. Office of Education; and because of the willingness of the American public to accept promising educational innovation at a time when it was most urgently needed—and via the controversial federal pursestrings, at that—ETV was probably snatched from the jaws of disaster. But now, for better or worse, it is with us to stay—a giant among the new educational technology of the twentieth century.     

A hedonic model of player wage determination from the Indian Premier League auction: Further evidence

A range of cross-sectional models are estimated with a view to establishing the factors that determine the valuation of professional athletes in a highly-specialised sport, with an application to cricket's Indian Premier League (IPL). We distinguish between personal characteristic and playing ability factors, and with respect to the former, between ability in different forms of the sport. We find a number of interpretable variables that have explanatory power over auction values, while decomposition according to batting and bowling specialisations produces very different results depending on the use of either Test or One-Day International (ODI) variables. There is also possible evidence of inefficient bidding, insomuch that overbidding was somewhat correlated with players with higher realised values.     

Male teacher shortage: black teachers’ perspectives

In this paper the authors draw on the perspectives of black teachers to provide a more nuanced analysis of male teacher shortage. Interviews with two Caribbean teachers in Toronto, Canada, are employed to illuminate the limits of an explanatory framework that foregrounds the singularity of gender as a basis for advocating male teachers as role models. The study concludes that educational policy attempting to address male teacher shortage would benefit from engaging with both analytic frameworks and empirical research that is capable of unravelling the politics of representation and intersectionality as they relate to addressing questions of male teacher shortage in elementary schools.     

Kinematics and kinetics of the drive off the front foot in cricket batting

A cinematographic analysis of the drive off the front foot (D) and the forward defensive stroke (FD) was undertaken to establish the kinematic and kinetic factors involved in playing these strokes against medium-fast bowling. Fourteen provincial cricket batsmen were filmed at 100 Hz while batting on a turf pitch with a specially instrumented bat. Results for the drive off the front foot revealed that the movement and stroke pattern were generally supportive of the coaching literature, with the forward defensive stroke forming the basis of the drive. Certain mechanical differences, although non-significant, were evident to facilitate the attacking nature of the front foot drive and included a higher backlift (FD = 0.65 m; D = 0.74 m), later commencement of the stride (FD = 0.64 s pre-impact; D = 0.58 s pre-impact) and downswing of the bat (FD = 0.38 s pre-impact; D = 0.36 s pre-impact), a shorter front foot stride (FD = 0.72 m; D = 0.68 m) with the front foot placement taking place later (FD = 0.14 s pre-impact; D = 0.06 s pre-impact), and the back foot dragging further forward at impact (FD = 0.05 m; D = 0.10 m). The front upper limb moved as a multi-segmental series of levers, which resulted in the drive showing significantly greater (P < 0.05) peak bat horizontal velocity at 0.02 s preimpact (FD = 3.53 ± 3.44 m . s -1 ; D = 11.8 ± 4.61 m . s -1 ) and 0.02 s post-impact (FD = 2.73 ± 2.88 m . s -1 ; D = 11.3 ± 4.21 m . s -1 ). The drive showed a significantly greater (P < 0.05) bat-ball closing horizontal velocity (FD = 24.2 ± 4.65 m . s-1; D = 32.3 ± 5.06 m . s -1 ) and post-impact ball horizontal velocity (FD = 6.85 5.12 m . s -1 ; D = 19.5 ± 2.13 m . s -1 ) than for the forward defensive stroke. The point of bat-ball contact showed nonsignificant differences, but occurred further behind the front ankle (FD = 0.09 ± 0.17 m; D = 0.20 ± 0.13 m), with the bat more vertical at impact (FD = 62.6 ± 6.53 ; D = 77.8 ± 7.05). Significant differences (P < 0.01) occurred between the grip forces of the top and bottom hands for the two strokes, with the principal kinetic finding that the top hand plays the dominant role during the execution of the drive with the bottom hand reinforcing it at impact. Similar grip force patterns for the two strokes occurred during the initial part of the stroke, with the drive recording significantly greater (P < 0.05) forces at 0.02 s pre-impact (top hand: FD = 129 ± 41.6 N; D = 199 ± 40.9 N; bottom hand: FD = 52.2 ± 16.9 N; D = 91.8 ± 41.1 N), at impact (top hand: FD = 124 ± 29.3 N; D = 158 ± 56.2 N; bottom hand: FD = 67.1 ± 21.5 N; D = 86.2 ± 58.2 N) and 0.02 s postimpact (top hand: FD = 111 ± 22.2 N; D = 126 ± 28.5 N; bottom hand: FD = 65.5 ± 26.9 N; D = 82.4 ± 28.6 N).     

Effects of a 12-week physical activity protocol delivered by YMCA after-school counselors (Youth Fit for Life) on fitness and self-efficacy changes in 5-12-year-old boys and girls

To address reduced physical education (PE) in elementary schools, a 12-week physical activity protocol was tested on 5-12-year-old, primarily African American, girls (n = 226) and boys (n = 344) at 14 YMCA after-school care sites. The 3 times/week, 45-min session curriculum included cardiovascular, resistance, and flexibility training, in which all children could participate simultaneously, and a behavioral skills education component. After-school counselors, formerly untrained in PE methods, administered the sessions, with periodic supervision by YMCA wellness staff members. Analyses of the eight Age x Sex subsamples indicated significant improvements on body composition, strength, and endurance, both within-groups and when predicted changes due to maturation were accounted for. Exercise barriers self-efficacy significantly increased in subsamples of 9-10- and 11-12-year-old girls only. The need for replication across ethnic groups was suggested. Limitations and the need for extension of research on supplementation of elementary school PE were discussed.     

Compressed speech by mnemonic joining: A negative implication for broadcasting

This study extended talk radio research to a developing nation setting. Results received from a Kingston, Jamaica sample of 268 adults, with access to 10 call‐in programs, supported the hypothesis that information and surveillance are the primary gratifications sought from call‐in radio programs in a developing nation. In contrast to U.S. results, reinforcement and companionship were less sought from talk radio listening. Lower socioeconomic status, lower educated, and higher isolated listeners were most apt to find gratification through a range of call‐in programs. These results indicate a potentially important role for call‐in radio in developing nations.     

The precision of data obtained in large-scale science assessments: An investigation of bootstrapping and half-sample replication methods

Powerful computational procedures are now available to better determine the accuracy of statistical estimates derived from data that have unknown distributions or do not meet parametric requirements. These techniques are generally called resampling plans and include the recently developed bootstrap. Science educators often face the problem of nonnormal distributions especially when conducting large-scale assessments or evaluating national curriculum projects that require complex sampling plans. Resampling techniques permit the researcher to make inferences without the strong distributional assumptions needed for more traditional parametric approaches. In this study, the bootstrap and a simplified version of a half-sample replication are used to examine the precision of science test scores obtained in a large-scale evaluation of Scope, Sequence, and Coordination, a national science curriculum project. The resampling plans are described in some detail and the results are compared with those obtained from parametric methods. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 697–704, 1998.